Puberty Adoption tips for puberty boy

[4boipigs]

I need tips on what age I should consider for a new friend for Maple Leaf. He is 5 or 6 months ago. He has good days and bad days - sometimes he would be fine with Gimbly, other days he would pestering Gimbly with lots of humping and rumblestrutting. Maple Leaf is acting withdrawn - he doesn't know Gimbly is not coming home, since Maple Leaf didn't come to the vet with us. He is hiding and eating if I put food outside the hide. Obviously, I want the best for Maple Leaf so a new friend is high on my to-do list.

I'm considering all avenues right now - I'm having some job trouble so I don't know when/if I could set an adoption appt for Texas Rustlers, which is only open on Saturdays. I've reached out to someone on Guineapigfinder,(broken link removed), and some other critters of unknown age. There are pigs where I adopted Maple Leaf from, but I'm hesitant to return there since Maple Leaf had bad ringworm when I got him.

I really just need to know an age range. Baby okay? Adult? Is getting another boy going thru puberty a bad idea? I'm also going to have to consider bonding at home, which I did with Maple Leaf and Gimbly. That worked out great, but Maple Leaf was a scared baby and Gimbly was a very tolerant pig.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

If I were in your shoes, since Maple Leaf is so young, I would look for a pig as close to his age as I could get. To be perfectly honest, having young boars to watch playing is such a joy.

If you can't do a meet and greet by all means try a bonding at home. It's all I've ever done and every time I've followed the "bible" and done it I've had tremendous success.

 

[4boipigs]

I found someone on Craigslist who had an accidental litter. (broken link removed), but that was 10 days ago, so I'll assume he is 20 days old. There are also 2 7 month old males. I have no problem sexing someone Maple Leaf's age, but I'm not sure about sexing a baby. I emailed them at 3am so they'll reply later. I did ask if they will let me do boar bonding and if the genders are confirmed. Is 20 days too young to rehome?

I did try guineapigfinder.com for the first time, but no one's really responded yet. If I meet up with the Craigslist person, I'll tell them to try posting there.

I am worried about Maple Leaf. He's completely reverted to being a scared pig. He did wheek loudly when he heard me feed my dog (as usual), but he stays in one spot. He won't come over for treats. He's munched some hay, but I'm really concerned about him not eating. He does take treats fine. I have Critical Care, so if it comes down to it before I get a new friend, I'll do that. My next day off is Friday, so I'm going to try to find Maple Leaf a new friend between my 2 interviews.

The place where I adopted Maple Leaf has 3 1 yr old, 2 6 month old, and a 2 yr old spread out over 3 locations.

There's no shortage of pigs...just depends on how fast I can do it. I'm honestly just mainly scared that Maple Leaf's puberty is going to make it hard to bond.

 

[Soecara]

It is fairly easy to sex even the youngest of pups if you know what to feel for. Male guinea pigs have a bone in their penis that you can feel just under the skin, females don't have a bone there so it just feels soft and squishy (no firm line).

20 days isn't when I have previously chosen to rehome baby boys born under my care, my personal preference was to keep them until they were 4 weeks (separate from mum at 3 weeks) to make sure they did ok eating on their own.

However I have gotten boars from other people for myself that were 20-22 days old and never had a problem (related to their age at least), you need to separate baby boys at 3 weeks anyway so for some people who wanted to rehome to me they preferred if I could get the boy at that time as they didn't have another cage to house him in (one didn't know to separate at three weeks until I started talking to them either but that's a whole different story).

 

[4boipigs]

My various gpigs to pick from turned out to be a failure. 2 of the boys were a pair and then another 3 were a trio. There was one left, so I decided to try him. We tried bonding at the shelter. Both pigs were nervous but didn't murder each other. Now we're home...they are eating together. They both made washing motions. New guy is probably going to be dominant if they match up. They keep bickering and squaring off, but Maple Leaf leaves most of the time. They do this for a while, then go back to eating. The shelter didn't have hay for any of the pigs. Just pellets. Maple Leaf makes a bunch of noise if new guy gets too close. They're in the old pet store cage (about 2x4 ft) to see what happens.

Maple Leaf has looked so pathetic and scared that I didn't want to wait.

Hopefully they bond...I'd hate for it to fail, of course, but the shelter said I could return new guy if it doesn't work out. I dread that happening but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Been about an hour, so they haven't fought yet.

New guy does have a DIRTY!!! boy area. I couldn't tell if he was a boy at first because it looks like he was neutered, but he came from an accidental litter home where he was making babies.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Fingers are crossed that they get along great and that Maple Leaf will have a new friend to help him.

 

[4boipigs]

They are still being quite feisty. It is 7pm my time now. New guy will chase Maple Leaf, still a lot of chattering. Maple Leaf is the one doing the lunging. Still eating/drinking together, and sleeping. Hopefully they will be fine overnight. Right now they are resting.

I'm not too certain about this honestly. If it falls out, I'm afraid I'd have to return him. I don't want them to have to live side by side forever.

When I was at the shelter, new guy had no hay. Just a big bowl of pellets. There was a female couple there w/ no hay either, just pellets. No telling when they had hay last since the cages were clean. I haven't been able to look at his teeth, but when he got a drink the top teeth looked quite long.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

It can take several hours. But if they haven't drawn blood yet, it's a very good sign. Maple Leaf is still uncertain and the new guy hasn't had a buddy at all.

When I brought Leo home, he was a year and a half old and had never known another pig. He quickly came to adore Scooter, so much so that since Scooter passed away Leo has not wheeked.

They are both young, and poor Maple Leaf has had his world turned upside down in the last 36 hours. While I'm sure there's going to be LOTS of rumblestrutting, chasing, mounting and every other behaviour that everyone worries about, I believe they'll be just fine. It may take a little time and I know everything in your world is upside down at the moment too.

Unless blood is drawn, they'll likely be fine.

 

[4boipigs]

Here they are at the shelter. We did a meet in the room they use for dog meets, but they were both rather scared. New guy is transitioning well (aside from bonding) and fairly friendly.

 

[4boipigs]

I left them together overnight. The new guy wants to be dominant. MLeaf is not really liking it. Still a lot of chasing, noise, and they did get into a tussle this morning after I woke up. I don't see any wounds. It was a few seconds and someone cried at the end. MLeaf is a bit shy about coming out, but he'll walk around, drink, eat. New guy will investigate but not cause trouble if my boy is in a hide. New guy does the chasing. Maple Leaf seems like he doesn't want the new guy near him. New guy owns the cage right now. Should I let them play this out? I'm still uncertain about it.

 

[4boipigs]

I will add, I know they could live side by side but I've never done that and I'm not sure that'd be so fulfilling for them. I really don't want to bring new guy to the shelter since they had no hay in their cages and that made me extremely uncomfortable. I'm kind of short on space but I could probably manage a 2x3 c&c for new guy in what space I have. The problem with expanding their cage right now, is it is under a 6 foot table with Chico and Amigo's cage on top. The 2x4 barely fits between the legs.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Let it play out. It will take time, but they'll work it out. If they haven't drawn blood by now they should be just fine. They may not be the best of friends, but it sounds to me like at the very least they will cohabitate just fine. It's still early.

 

[SSLee]

Ah, to me both Maple Leaf and new guy at the shelter during initial introductions have the "I am confused, what is going on" look.

I'm not an experienced piggy owner but so far it sounds like the introduction is going well and they will be able to co-exist in the same cage. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately and have seen some nasty bonding sessions on The Pig Room and Autumn Grace. Your description sounds really good compared to what I've seen lately.

By any chance, did you ask the shelter why there was no hay for the guinea pigs? I know a lot of shelters do not have very experienced staff but hay is the most basic food item, so am surprised there were only pellets. After reading your post, I am very happy that all of the shelters in my local counties know enough to give the small animals hay. After one of my original piggies died, I went to many shelters and all the guinea pigs were in decent habitats with good quantity hay and pellets. My last adoption, Rumi, was from the San Francisco pound and they sent Rumi off with a large handful of hay in the carrier.

Looking forward to more updates and what you will name the new guy.

 

[4boipigs]

By any chance, did you ask the shelter why there was no hay for the guinea pigs? I know a lot of shelters do not have very experienced staff but hay is the most basic food item, so am surprised there were only pellets. After reading your post, I am very happy that all of the shelters in my local counties know enough to give the small animals hay. After one of my original piggies died, I went to many shelters and all the guinea pigs were in decent habitats with good quantity hay and pellets. My last adoption, Rumi, was from the San Francisco pound and they sent Rumi off with a large handful of hay in the carrier.

Looking forward to more updates and what you will name the new guy.

I wish I had a name. Trying to match up with Maple Leaf but I'm not sure what else to do. I was thinking Barry (like Blackberry or something) but I'm not sure. His shelter name was Pete, but I already have a fish named Pete, and my first shelter hamster was Peter.

As for the hay, I haven't written the shelter because I will probably come off rude and I want to phrase it well. This shelter is a different branch of where I got Maple Leaf from - and he had bad ringworm when I got him. I am not a fan of the shelter and it will show in a review. I did take pictures of the cages w/o hay.

Things seem better tonight. They were eating hay together when I got home. Maple Leaf is still making a bunch of noise, and there is some chasing. They have been out more. They are both very skittish. Maple Leaf has always been a little flighty when things move around him but it's gotten worse since Gimbly is gone.

Once they settle in, I'm definitely going to increase the 2x4 c&c. The size worked for gentle Little Bear and Gimbly, but these two could use some more space.

 

[4boipigs]

Things are still going well (or so it seems). New guy has won the battle. He's settling in well, but he doesn't like the Oxbow vitamin c cookies too much. Hopefully he won't make me find an alternate vit c source just for him. He's also pawing at his nose a little. I intend to take him to the vet for a new pet exam just in case, especially since his boy area is gross.

 

[4boipigs]

Things are still all right between them - they bicker and chatter a lot, like Chico and Amigo always do. They're still getting used to each other. Hard to tell if they even like each other. They do eat together, but they bicker quite a bit. I did notice a scratch on new guy's nose, but he's also been pawing at it since I got him, so idk if they hurt each other. Maple Leaf has a little black scab (I'm guessing) on his chin, but otherwise they don't look like they've had a bad fight. New guy is quite comfortable here, has been coming up to me, and popcorned a bit when I fed them today.

 

[4boipigs]

They just had a tussle. Maple Leaf is being the aggressor today. He pulled out new guy's fur. No bleeding. Should I separate them? I can split the cage down the middle for tonight (2x4 cage) but I don't like them being in a small area. This all started after I put down 2 bowls of pellets. I'll probably end up buying an extender from this site and split the cage. Or will they work this out?

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

No blood drawn so don't separate them. They are both hormonal and tussles are going to happen as long as it's not a knock down drag out fight. They will work it out but it will take time

 

[4boipigs]

No blood drawn so don't separate them. They are both hormonal and tussles are going to happen as long as it's not a knock down drag out fight. They will work it out but it will take time

I just ordered an extender either way (pretty sure this secondhand cage came from this site). They are on opposite ends of the cage relaxing. They are very wary of each other now. If I have to split them up eventually, I will not like putting them each in a 2x3 spot, but we'll see what happens. At least they will have more space for now. I am committed to the new guy (yes still no name) and will be keeping him even if they have to live side by side.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I just ordered an extender either way (pretty sure this secondhand cage came from this site). They are on opposite ends of the cage relaxing. They are very wary of each other now. If I have to split them up eventually, I will not like putting them each in a 2x3 spot, but we'll see what happens. At least they will have more space for now. I am committed to the new guy (yes still no name) and will be keeping him even if they have to live side by side.

So glad to hear that. I understand why someone would return a pig to a shelter if the new one doesn't get along with the other, it's just not something I could ever do. Once I take a pig home, they are a family member.